Very entertaining movie. Good story, good action, good actors. The directing my be the weak link in this movie. That said it was worth watching. Good guys vs bad guys in Louisiana. Tom Berenger did a nice job. Not an Acadeny Award winning movie, but still worth watching and good entertainment.

oh boy...So from looking at the cover art, I thought that I was about to be watching a Country Western Film. It turns out that this film is about Louisiana, cops, criminals, jewels, drugs, and corruption. There are elements in the film that make it come together, but I'm not sitting there thinking MAN this is such a great chance for the guy to be with his wife and baby...though that is the theme of this movie. Tom Berenger is in the movie. This is one of those movies, where after years and years..I think you'll notice that this could be the first time THEY as actors have worked together...and that's a pretty long time....since Matt Dillon and Tom Berenger have been around since I was prepubescent.

Bad Country, or Whiskey Bay as it was originally titled, is an overlooked tale of pulpy bayou set crime moodiness, with an exceptional cast, and despite being a direct to video, anonymous addition to the stream of films of its ilk that nobody gives a chance because they're not garnering any buzz, it's a really committed, well made flick, and based on a true story as well (how closely, I couldn't tell ya). Willem Dafoe gives zest and enthusiasm, playing Louisiana detective Bud Carter, a roughneck who makes an undercover arrest which leads to Aryan hard ass criminal Jesse Weiland (Matt Dillon), who might just be the key in bringing down an entire crime syndicate based in the area. Dillon, who's been keeping a low profile as of late, is excellent as Weiland, a nasty ex con with a violent streak who's informing for Bud to protect his wife (Amy Smart) and newborn son. Up against him and Bud is psychopathic southern dandy crime lord Lutin Adams (Tom Berenger). Berenger is an old pro and plays Adams to the hilt, giving us an evil Colonel Sanders with an unsettling Cajun accent and simmering nastiness. Neal McDonough is a slimy lawyer, and Bill Duke, and Don Yesso provide solid support. Dafoe and Berenger have a nice Platoon reunion moment in a bloody fistfight. It's a dirty, unglamorous look at the sad life of criminals and the men pursuing them. It's got a bleak, unrelenting tone of misery, but sticks to its guns, follows through with its story and provides solid entertainment.

Bad Country is simply excruciatingly boring. It lacks any charisma at all and doesn't even keep you remotely interested. I found myself having to force myself to keep watching and I would drift off to doing something else and think, "oh right I'm watching this movie." There is no reason why this should be the case. It has a terrific cast, a story that sounds interesting and based on a true story supposedly but nothing seems to just work right. The cast acts sub-par despite the fact we all know they are a capable and strong cast and there is either too much going on to focus or they're not focusing on what they need to do be. Despite being based on a true story, its missing some sort of gritty true to life crime thriller quality and our evil villain mobster is more "Batman" than he is "The Departed." I mentioned The Departed because this film should be right along those lines but it doesn't work nearly the same despite having positive things going for it. The production quality is great, not cheap in any way, there are some good action scenes and tension is attempted time and time again but for some unknown reason it doesn't work and is completely flat and leaves you feeling empty.I watched this solely based on star power. Willem Dafoe can be a powerful actor, I've seen it. He is okay in this and certainly anyone less than him would have been even worse to watch but his character feels bland and under developed. He gets one good scene where he goes off the rails and the rest of the time instead of looking like a brooding cop, he looks like he's pouting. Matt Dillon's performance is a carbon copy of Dafoe's. His character has the potential to be this mixed up master criminal and killer trying to right his wrongs for the sake of his family. In the end he is a maniac on a vengeance quest, sounds great doesn't it? They miss all this and Dillon's performance lacks something that would make it powerful. Dafoe and Dillon should have had way more scenes together and their characters should have reflected off of each other but they miss that too. Tom Berenger is the villain I mentioned earlier who looks like a Dick Tracy/Batman mobster instead of playing it a little more close to reality. I like Berenger but he's almost boring in this and had the potential to really impress in this role. Supporting cast are okay including notable performances by Bill Duke and Kevin Chapman. One of the best performances in the movie and unfortunately very small was by Neal McDonough as Berenger's lawyer and right hand man. He actually had a great part that was underdeveloped too but he actually looked like he was trying to make the most of a bad script.I began to understand just how bad this movie was in the last 20 minutes during the climatic end scene shoot out. Suddenly we have Dillon and Berenger facing down each other for the first time in a melodramatic ridiculous hand to hand fighting scene that looks like a thug is beating down an old man. The gladiator music in the background makes it even more ridiculous. It was like the film makers got this script, was paid to make it but honestly didn't care if it was done right or not. Its truly unfortunate because under all the wrong things there is some potential for a great movie that will never be. This is Chris Brinker's first and only credit as a director having produced cult classic The Boondock Saints but I can assuredly pronounced to Mr. Brinker that he should go back to producing and not ruin any more potentially great films or crime thrillers. By the time the credits rolled I felt like I was watching an unintentional spoof of crime dramas and I would be forever disappointed but 15 minutes from now I will forget this film ever existed and that I had to fight my way through it. I score it what I am simply because the cast has some great potential and make it watchable in the slightest of ways. 3/10